Overview


The popularity of Computer hacking in the modern world is not that surprising, it has been a staple in popular culture since the early 90’s. What is surprising is the variety of genres in which we see it convey. It can be an army intelligence movie, law enforcement television shows or sci-fi movies. Computer hackers are stereotypically nerdy or weird but always very smart. This seemingly omnipresent charcteristic of genius in representations of computer hackers gives the deed itself a certain allure of extreme difficulty. This all lead me to think, what is a hacker?

In the 1950’s and 60’s when computers were first starting to be developed groups of students from technology colleges would get together to create and modify software and hardware. Early hacker hotbeds were the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the University of California, Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University. The development of the internet helped to spur growth in the hacker community through the sharing of information. The most important movements to hacker culture were the Jargon file in 1973 and the GNU Manifesto of 1985. This sub-culture is bounded by the code of ethics originally set forth by the Homebrew Computer Club of MIT.

Hacker is a term that typically means person who breaks into computers and computer networks, either for profit or motivated by the challenge. This definition however has been met with some controversy because of it’s originally playful intention meaning someone who is clever and uses these means to achieve a goal. The word “hacker” in the computer sense has a heavily negative connotation. The term has been adopted to describe computer criminals. The underground community of media-dubbed computer hackers tried to differentiate between people who use illegal means (hackers) and those who don’t (crackers). The thing that unites all crackers and hackers is the goal of modifying software or hardware.


History


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Opinion


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Future Trends?


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